Social audit scenario in Orissa

This article came in "Yojana" monthly journal published by Publication Division, GOI, in August 2008 issue

Social Audit scenario in Orissa
Pradeep Baisakh

Social audit of government works is a unique tool of establishing government’s direct accountability to the people. In National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) (section 17 sub section 1,2,3) itself it has been made an integral and important part with the purpose to enforce the constitutional and democratic right of the citizen to take the “hisaab” of the public money.

After the NREGS came into effect from 2nd February 2006 social audits and surveys have been undertaken by various groups in different paces of Orissa at different points of time. A rough list is given below:
List of places of Social Audit/survey undertaken
Name of the place Period
Makarsola village of Kendupati GP, Kalahandi district June 07
Sanpokhri village of Bisra block, Sundergarh district March 07
Belaput GP of Nandpore block, Koraput district May 07
Makar Sola village, kendupati gp, junagarh of Kalahandi May 07
Pujariguda gp Tentulikhuni Navrangpur May 07
Ukhla Gp under Jaipur block, Sonepur district August 07
Khari and Situla GP, Sonepur dist December 07
Paikphulbeda GP under Dasmantpur block, Koraput district November 07
11 social audits in Koraput, Kalahandi, sonepur, Boud, Bolangir and Nuapada districts
21st January to 4th February‘08

A series of Social Audit (SA) is being undertaken in 19 districts of the state by NIRD, Hyderabad with the request of the State government. NIRD in turn has sought cooperation of the local NGOs and volunteers. In the first phase SA was done from 21st January to 4th February 2008 in 11 GPs in six districts namely Bolangir, Koraput, Boud , Sonepur, Nuapada and Kalahandi.

Brief finding of the social audit (21st January to 31st January 2008) done in one work in Koraput district is given below:
Information as per official records:
Name of the work: Road construction work from Lakhiguda to sindhiguda
Place: Panasguda GP under Borigumma block of Koraput district
Financial year: 2006-07 (work done between 16 December 06 to 23 March 07)
Sanctioned amount: 5 lakhs
Total number of labourers worked in the work as in the Muster Roll (MR): 136
Total number of person days created as per the official record: 2837
Expenditure toward labour payment: 4,13,115
Expenditure toward material cost: 7,000
Royalty to the state government: 77,966

During the survey the team however met about 10 such people who have worked under the work but names were not mentioned in the MR.
Summary findings:
1. 75% of wages shown in the MR is not paid to the labourers
2. The length of the road is shown to be 1280 metres, but a real measurement was found to be 700 metres
3. 7000 rupees were paid toward the T&P (tools) but in reality it is not paid
4. No worksite facilities like drinking water, rest shed , first aid kit etc were available

A survey on NREGA works was conducted by Prof Jean Dreze and colleagues from the G B Pant Institute at 30 worksites in GPs of six blocks randomly selected from three districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Boudh in October 2007. This survey provides a broader picture. The interim report of the survey observes, “The verification of 30 sample worksites shows that only 60 per cent of the days of employment recorded in the MRs were confirmed by the respective labourers. The corresponding discrepancies in the wage payments may even be larger. However, this is hard to ascertain as the verification of wage payments poses considerable difficulties…”

Areas of concern
During the social audits and surveys conducted some of the following areas of concerns have come up which are briefly discussed as follows:

1. Inaccessibility to records: Though the act clearly dictates for easy availability of the MR and other documents to the citizen, reality speaks differently. In the recently concluded survey and SA by NIRD (21st January to 4th February 08), the district administration of Nuapada district and the BDO of Sinapali of the district virtually denied parting with the record of the works. Similar non cooperation was reported in Belpada block of Bolangir district.
2. The labourer is not able to verify his/her payments from the job card due to absence of wage column specifying the wages paid. The state government, however, has decide that there will be a column for “wage payment” in the new Job Cards and the remarks column in the existing card will be made use for the purpose.
3. Two types of muster rolls namely kachha (unofficial) Pacca (official) kept by the contractors/mate in order to accommodate necessary manipulations to cover up corruption.
4. The infamous ‘cuts’ culture in the government works is also seen in NREGA works. In the block works the total percentage of direct pilferage may work out to be nearly 20-22%. The BDO, JE, Auditor, Clerks, AE,data entry operator, PEO, Panchayat Secretary, contractor etc have their share. The ‘cuts’ has links with the funding of elections in the panchayat and the assembly.

However, JEs and VLWs privately agree that under NREGA managing percentage cuts have a considerable risk, and eventually it has to go down, particularly after the payment through banks and post offices becomes fully operational, which has just started in the state now.

5. Contractors are to be seen in all NREGA works, some are visible and some are not.
Saswat Mishra, additional secretary, department of panchayati raj, however says “We have instructed the JE and VLWs, in whose names work orders are issued, to entrust the work to the VLLs selected by Palli Sabha, not to the contractors.”
6. Social activist opposing the involvement of contactors and conducting social audits have been beaten in many cases. For example, after the social audit in Semala and Ekamba GPs of Navarangpur district in November 07, a social activist was badly beaten by none other than the PEO and the Sarpach and was hospitalised.

7. The hierarchy of grievance redressal system has unfortunately not been put in place in the state.

8. The Management of Information System (MIS) has been too rigid leading to “adjustments” in the written records.
9. Staff shortage at block and panchayat levels, low travelling allowance to the panchayat workers, JEs etc have bearing on the implementation of the NREGS works.

Apart from these systemic issues, regular complaints like denying work to old people and widows, manipulating MRs, providing fewer wages to the women than men, non availability of worksite facilities including crèches etc were also reported.

Impact of Social Audit
SA is probably the best form of generation of awareness and mobilisation of people. The impact of SA process has been both immediate and long term. During the recent SA in Pandasguda GP of Borigumma block of Koraput district, the authorities distributed about 300 Job Cards within seven days to the villagers which were not given for last two years. In Nilabadi GP under Bandhugaon block work was immediately sanctioned by the authorities to about fifty people after the survey team arrived to conduct SA. Making pending payments were also reported during the audit process that was undertaken by NIRD recently.

The platform of SA has also been used to redressing other grievances of people. For example, in Similipadar GP under Kantamal block of Boudh district just after the public hearing (in last week of January’08), the people complained of prolonged irregularity in supply of ration under PDS to the BDO and the Asst Project Director, DRDA. The people gheraoed the officials and relented only after assurance of smooth ration distribution.

However, the long term impact of SA in terms of increased awareness of people accompanied by assertion of their entitlements under the act and the response of the authorities toward better implementation of the scheme is encouraging. In Paikphulbeda GP of Koraput district, where SA was done in the month of November’07, a group of 52 women, who were not piad their two days wages of the work done in 2006-07, were paid within fifteen days of the audit. “In Bilaput GP of Nandpore block of Koraput district, where SA was done in May’07, the people who were getting wages of rupees 30 to 35 are now getting the minimum wage of seventy rupees per day. People have now started demanding work and are vigilant about wages, worksite facilities etc” says Bidyut Mohanty of SPREAD (a NGO) that facilitated the audit there. Recounting the gains of audit done in Sanpokhar village of Birsa GP in Sundergarh district, Binay Sahu, a local activist says “so many irregularities were found during when social audit was done. But now, providing work in time, making payment within fifteen days etc are done. In some cases even people have got 135 days of work in a single financial year. The decentralised planning at Palii/Gram Sabha has also got a fillip. Now the Panchayat Executive Officer (PEO) is keeping old women as ‘aya’ in the worksite to take care of babies of working women and paying them the minimum wages”

“These improvements give the hope that NREGS can be implemented in letter and spirit in due course of time” says, Rajkishor Mishra, the State (Orissa) Advisor to the Right to Food Commission of Supreme Court.

In fact two surveys done in the state, one by CEFS, a New Delhi based NGO in May-June 2007 and other by G B Panth Institute in October 07 brought substantial impact on the state government to streamline issues at policy level. State government took some vital decisions of redesigning job cards, appointing ‘gaon sathis’ to make measurements, constituting the State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC), directing to VLW/JE not to entertain contractors, requesting NIRD to conduct social audits in 40 GPs etc. These decisions, if properly implemented, will give proper direction to the scheme in the state.

Recommendations for betterment of implementation
Recommendations were made by the visiting members of CEGC in November’07; by the survey team from G B Panth institute and by the the CSOs of the state to the state government which are briefly given below:
1. Regular maintenance of Job Cards should be strictly enforced. Responsibility should be clearly fixed on the Gram Rozgar Sevaks for the task.
2. “Adjustments” in the records should not be allowed in any circumstances. Persons without a Job Card should be provided with a Job Card before they join a worksite.
3. A uniform, single, numbered, well-designed muster roll should be used throughout the state. Accountability should be fixed for ensuring that live muster rolls are kept at the worksite, and completed muster rolls are available for public scrutiny at the Panchayat Bhawan.
4. Additional staff should be appointed as per NREGA Guidelines both at GP and block levels. A Gram Rozgar Sevak should be posted in each Gram Panchayat and the Programme Officer at the Block level should be “a full-time dedicated officer”, not below the rank of Block Development Officer.
5. Immediate government order should be issued to the block and district level officers mentioning the time limit for grievance redressal under the act.
6. Awareness drives urgently need to be conducted, as most labourers are still unaware of their entitlements under NREGA. A simple, reader-friendly “primer” on NREGA should be made available to each Gram Panchayat.
7. Each Block and District should have a NREGA Helpline (for information as well as for complaints). Helpline numbers should be printed or “sticked” on each Job Card.
8. Planning process at the Palli/Gram Sabha level should be activated with proper awareness drive and facilitation.

Despite many odds NREGA remains the ray of hope of the poor people in rural Orissa. The strength of the legislation has already been exhibited in the state by enforcement of the clause of unemployment allowance in case of 546 job card holders who have got Rs 1,04,355/- in total. The process of social audit has also proved to be an effective tool in the hands of common people to ensure transparency and demand entitlements. It will be wrong to interpret that the level of corruption in NREGA, as the findings suggest, is more than other schemes. The fact of the matter is that in previous welfare schemes the extent was of this level or more, but was not in public knowledge. The transparency mechanisms visualised in the act have been able to bring fore the extent of misappropriation of public funds. The levels are to go down in due course as has been seen in some above discussed cases. For still better implementation, the process of social audits should be done before and during and after the work is undertaken. It should be a continuous process.

E mail: 2006pradeep@gmail.com